Mayor Aldo DiCarlo asks: “If somebody’s responding to you, don’t you want a paramedic if you need a paramedic?”

With all due respect the question should also be asked: If a fire medic can reach you in four minutes and a paramedic will reach you in 15 minutes, do you want to lie there bleeding, choking or without a heartbeat for 15 minutes waiting for a paramedic, or would you prefer a trained medical professional with oxygen, a defibrillator, and good CPR and other basic skills to arrive at four minutes who can help you until the paramedics arrive with their transport unit?

I know what I would choose.

Tiering criteria varies, and I don’t know what Amherstburg’s criteria is, but fire is typically only tiered to medical calls when they can arrive before an ambulance, and only on calls where oxygen, defibrillator, or CPR can make a difference.

In my example above, look at it again with the knowledge that brain function begins dying after four minutes when circulation stops. At 10 minutes, the brain is dead. Do you still want to wait 11 minutes for paramedics?

Some lobbyists, on behalf of paramedics, say this is all about jobs in the fire service. I don’t think it is all about any one thing.

It is mainly about what is best for you and me on a day that could go really badly in terms of life, limb, or function.

The province has seen a need and the province is responsible for the delivery of this service. Emergency services should stop trying to interfere politically and especially stop using fear tactics to sway public opinion.

Neil MacAskill, Renfrew

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